About
Why this directory exists
Neighborhood Butchers is a research-first directory of independent butcher shops across the United States. We started it because the shops we love — whole-animal counters, fourth-generation smokehouses, halal and kosher counters serving new immigrant communities, dry-age programs run out of the back of a corner store — are often the hardest ones to find and compare online.
We are based in Cleveland, Ohio and publish under the byline Neighborhood Butchers Editors. The site is edited by a small team of home cooks, former restaurant staff, and freelance food writers who care about small, independent meat counters and want them to keep existing.
Who writes the site
Neighborhood Butchers Editors is the collective byline used by our editorial team. Every published city guide, shop listing, and blog post is written or reviewed by a human editor on that team before it goes live. When an individual contributor writes a piece under their own name, their byline and short bio appear at the top of the article.
Our editors have backgrounds in restaurant kitchens, food retail, and independent food writing. We are not affiliated with any meat processor, distributor, or trade association.
How we research listings
Every listing starts from primary sources, in roughly this order:
- Site visits. Where we can, an editor visits the shop in person to confirm the counter, the case, and the hours posted on the door.
- The shop's own social media. We read the shop's Facebook and Instagram going back at least a year to confirm what they actually sell, what they source, and whether they are still open.
- The shop's website and public menus for pricing, cuts offered, and special programs like whole-animal shares, sausage classes, or holiday orders.
- Public business records and mapping services for address, phone, and hours cross-checks.
We use AI tools as drafting and research assistants. No listing or article is published without a human editor reviewing, correcting, and rewriting the draft.
How we make money
The site is supported by display advertising through Google AdSense. We may add sponsored placements, an affiliate program, or a paid newsletter in the future. Any paid relationship will be clearly disclosed on the page it appears on and will never change the order or scoring of listings.
Corrections and contact
If a listing is wrong, out of date, or a shop has closed, please tell us. Email neighborhoodbutchers@gmail.com or use the contact page. We aim to respond to corrections within a few business days.
Full details on how we research, correct, and disclose are in our editorial policy.
Publisher
Neighborhood Butchers · Cleveland, Ohio, USA · neighborhoodbutchers@gmail.com